There is a sense of urgency as they answer the calls. There is always a flurry of calls — on an average, 100 in an hour — for these operators. There were 57,794 incoming calls this March, out of which only 135 calls were unattended. So far, these operators have received 9,86,726 incoming calls. Out of which, around 45,000 could not be attended due to various reasons. In Chennai alone, 3,545 calls were received in March; and the total number of calls received is 60,000.
This facility operates like any other call centre in the city — only that there is no commerce attached to these calls. These callers are accessing the ‘104’ helpline, an initiative of Tamil Nadu Health System Project, which was started by the State government on December 30, 2013.
The centre, which is run by the GVK-Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI) with the support of the State government, functions at the Government Kasturba Gandhi Hospital for Women and Children.
The helpline facility is operated round-the-clock with a team of doctors deployed exclusively for answering queries.
The ‘104’ helpline call centre consists of a registration officer, a health advise officer, a medical officer, a counselling officer and a service improvement officer. All the calls are attended either by doctors, staff nurses or qualified counsellors. There are staff who can take calls in Tamil, English, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu. Prabhudoss B., head, Marketing and Hospital Relations, G.V.K. EMRI, says, “The State government started the initiative with the main objective of offering quick remedies for minor aliments such as a headache, fever, vomiting and minor injuries. If there is a need for immediate and greater intervention, then the call is likely to be diverted to the 108 Emergency Response services.” Callers also seek information on a variety of matters, including nutrition, obesity, facilities at government hospitals, facilities available under the Chief Minister’s health insurance scheme, blood banks, eye and organ donation, maternal and child welfare centres and mental-health counselling.
“Even students are using the helpline facility to overcome academic-related stress, family problems, memory disorders and suicidal thoughts during the time of examinations or results,” says Prabhudoss. “When a person calls for the first time, the one attending the call will ask for his name and address and a register number will be assigned to the person. If this person calls again, his entire case history will be traced, which will make diagnosis or remedial help easier,” says Prabhudoss.
As per the nature of calls, it would be transferred to a doctor or a nurse or a counsellor. Though there are several calls regarding prescription of drugs, the centre does not prescribe drugs, instead it refers them to the nearest government hospital. Calls can also be made if any equipment is not working in a government hospital, doctors/nurses are behaving in a rude manner or if there are sanitation problems at any government hospital.
